Treatment of cement copper.



c. A. HALL.

TREATMENT OF CEMENT COPPER.

APPLICAHON FILED JMLB. 19'7- RENEWED SEPT l0. I918. 1,290,024.

Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

Invwmlor.

Attorney.

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CLARENCE A. HALL, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR'TO PENNSYL-VANIA SALT MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,

A" CORPORATION OF rENNsYLvANIA.

TREATMENT OF CEMENT COPPER.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 31,

Application filed January.8. 1917,. Serial No..-141,103. RenewedSeptember. 10, 1918. Serial No; 253,464.

To all whomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE A. HAL a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented. certain new and useful Improvements in theTreatment of Cement Copper, of which the following is a specification.

Cement copper in association with .waste liquor is a product formed bythe treatment of cinders from the roasting or cupreous pyrites in themanufacture of sulfuric acid and it .usually contains not less than 25%of moisture which is provided to prevent spon taneous heating in the airand to make transportation safe. In this condition it is necessary tomatte and smelt the mass in the operation of recovering the coppervalue.

The principal objects of the present invention are, first, to dispensewith the cost of matting and smelting, second, to put the cement copperin such condition that it does not tend to heat and is dry and capableof transportation and treatment for the recovery of the copper value bya melting operation, and third, to provide for doing this at less costthan the cost of matting, smelting and incidentally driving oflmoisture.

In accordance with the present invention cement copper and waste liquorconstituents are pressed into brick or like form and dried as ishereinafter more fully described and finally claimed.

The drawings illustrate diagrammatically One form of apparatus by meansof which the invention can be practised,-and in them- Figure 1, is aview, principally in section, of a press, and

Fig. 2, is a perspective view, with parts broken away, of a kiln ordrier.

The invention will be described in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, and it will be assumed that use is made of cement copper andwaste liquor containing approximately 25% of moisture, but it must beunderstood that the invention is not limited as to those matters andthat different apparatus may be used and that the cement copper maycontain more or less moisture. However, in this description referencewill be made to the treatment of cement copper containing approximately25% of moisture, beausc that is the amount of moisture generally presentunder usual practice and reference will be made to the use of a kiln ordrier, although in some cases air drying may be used.

Cement copper-and waste liquor contain ing about 25% ofmoisturc,..having been selected merely for the sake of description, ispressed into bricks or other forms. For this purpose use may be ,made ofa hand brickpress diagrammatically shown in Fig. 1 in which 1, is amold, and 2 and 3, pressers between which the cement copper 4, ispressed and molded. One result of pressing the cement copper into brickor like form is to eliminate a considerable percentage of water whichcarries with it impurities, so that the finished bricks, after drying,"contain a relatively high copper content. The pressed brick in order tobe coherent after drying, should contain waste liquor constituents whichseem to act after the manner of a binder. \Vith this in mind thepressure should be applied, for if the pressure is too high the driedbricks will be too friable. A hand brick press exerts about 250 poundsto the square-inch and while this is appropriate for cement coppercontaining about 25% of moisture, the invention is obviouslv not limitedin that regard, for it is possible to extract at one operation from thecement copper all of the moisture in excess of that required to furnishenough waste liquor bindmg constituents.

The pressed bricks are dried, and the heat which they develop assists inthe operation. Circulating air and the further application of heat alsoassist. For this purpose the pressed bricks 5, may be loaded edgewise onsuitable cars 6, which are run into a drying room or kiln 7, Fig. 2,where a constant circulation of air passing over steam pipes 8, is keptup. 9 and 10, are openings which may be used for the inlet of air andthe outlet of air and moisture, and if desired, suitable fans can besupplied. In twenty-four hours, more or less, the bricks are dry. Theheat given off by the bricks may be suffi ient for a time, but it iswell to supplement it with heat from some other source.

Bricks made as described may contain even less than 1% of moisture, butif more moisture is tolerated and time is not of importance, the brickscan be air-dried without the application of extraneous heat.

T he finished bricks are hard, like building bricks, dry, coherent andnon-heating, and consist of relatively 'pure cement copper With enoughWaste liquor constituents to act as a binder. These bricks can betransported safely, and even exposed to the weather, and in treatingthem for the recovery of their copper content the operation is a meltingone,-in Which matting and smelting are not required. The point is thatthe bricks melt although they are not of pure copper.

What I claim is:

1. Coherent dry non-heating bricks of cement copper and Waste liquorconstituents.

2. Coherent dry non-heating bricks of cement copper and Waste liquorconstituents and containing less than one percent. of moisture.

3. The process of treating cement copper whirh consists in pressing itinto brick form in the presence of Waste liquor to expel moisture andretain Waste liquor constituents for binding purposes, and drying thebricks to render them non-heating, substantially as described.

4. The process of treating cement copper containing about 25% ofmoisture, which consists in pressing it into brick form under about 250pounds pressure to the square-inch, and then drying the bricks,substantially as described.

5. T he process of treating cement copper which consists in pressing itinto brick form I in the presence of Waste liquor to expel moisture andretain Waste liquor constituents for binding purposes, and drying thebri;ks ina circulation of air partly by heat developed by theiroxidation and partly by applied heat, substantially as described.

6. The pro:ess of treating cement copper which consists in pressing itinto brick form, drying the brirks, and melting the bricks to recoverthe copper value, substantially as described.

CLARENCE A. HALL.

Copies of this patent may be. obtained for five cents each. byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C.

